the “push to redesign human beings, animals and plants to meet the commercial goals of a limited number of individuals is fundamentally at odds with the principle of respect for nature.”

“Respect for nature”? What principle is that? Is it universally shared? He speaks as though there’s some sort of well-defined societal consensus for such a principle.

I’ve already disquisited on this subject; there is nothing holy or sacrosanct about nature. Nature in itself has no intrinsic value.

If this FOE member believes that nature should not be trifled with, then no anaesthetics for him next time he needs dental work. In fact, no dental work allowed, other than knocking aching teeth out with rocks. And no plastic toothbrushes or floss, or anti-cavity toothpaste–they’re unnatural.

This falls into the same category of nonsense as Jeremy Rifkin’s “integrity of the genome.”

the “push to redesign human beings, animals and plants to meet the commercial goals of a limited number of individuals is fundamentally at odds with the principle of respect for nature.”

“Respect for nature”? What principle is that? Is it universally shared? He speaks as though there’s some sort of well-defined societal consensus for such a principle.

I’ve already disquisited on this subject; there is nothing holy or sacrosanct about nature. Nature in itself has no intrinsic value.

If this FOE member believes that nature should not be trifled with, then no anaesthetics for him next time he needs dental work. In fact, no dental work allowed, other than knocking aching teeth out with rocks. And no plastic toothbrushes or floss, or anti-cavity toothpaste–they’re unnatural.

This falls into the same category of nonsense as Jeremy Rifkin’s “integrity of the genome.”

the “push to redesign human beings, animals and plants to meet the commercial goals of a limited number of individuals is fundamentally at odds with the principle of respect for nature.”

“Respect for nature”? What principle is that? Is it universally shared? He speaks as though there’s some sort of well-defined societal consensus for such a principle.

I’ve already disquisited on this subject; there is nothing holy or sacrosanct about nature. Nature in itself has no intrinsic value.

If this FOE member believes that nature should not be trifled with, then no anaesthetics for him next time he needs dental work. In fact, no dental work allowed, other than knocking aching teeth out with rocks. And no plastic toothbrushes or floss, or anti-cavity toothpaste–they’re unnatural.

This falls into the same category of nonsense as Jeremy Rifkin’s “integrity of the genome.”

Several people have pointed out this article in the WaPo about the disillusionment of many formerly jihading muslims in Pakistan. This paragraph caught my eye particularly:

“Sufi Mohammad let down the people,” said Khisda Rahman, 35, in Chakdara. “He took all these guys and now they are dead or in prison. But he ran away and came back. People are asking why he didn’t sacrifice himself.”

When Sufi Mohammad organized the convoys that passed through Chakdara, “the whole town was celebrating,” Rahman said. “Now they are sad they did. They will never follow him again.”

Urban…promised them the Church’s blessing, the aid of God, and the certainly of being taking immediately into heaven for those who fell in the attempt.

The crowd was swept up in the call, and the cry of Deus vult! (“Gods wills it!”) spread far and wide. Almost all classes and nationalities of Europeans responded in a movement far greater and more varied than Urban may have expected. It is unlikely that anyone realized how well this call suited the needs and predisposition of the Europeans of the time.

It is ironic that so many Islamicists accuse the West of going on another crusade against them. The reality is that, just as Christianity went through its dark ages, so now is Islam (or at least some virulent sects of it) in their own. And the response is the same–a distraction of the peasants from their (government-imposed) peasantry with the excitement of a Holy War (in this case, Jihad or a Crescentade).

Fortunately, our communications and information transfer is much better now than it was in the European middle ages, so the lesson may be learned after a single dramatic failure, instead of having multiple Crescentades.